International News

Mar 09, 2019

12:14PM

Venezuela struggles with blackout as govt claims sabotage

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Venezuela is slowly beginning to emerge from a nearly 24-hour massive blackout that had paralyzed most parts of the country. The power supply is gradually being restored to some areas.

The outage had left most of the country in chaos, crippling the day-to-day functioning of hospitals and other public services. The lack of electricity caused flights to be diverted from the main airport in Caracas. Telephone services and access to the internet were also knocked out. President Nicolas Maduro made the decision yesterday to shut down offices and schools in order to facilitate efforts for the recovery of electricity service in the country.

This crisis came amid rising tensions over opposition efforts, backed by the US and some Latin American countries, to remove Maduro from power.